Chapter 7 The Sleepover

The following day in school was very productful. They had almost the entire day to plan. Mr. Andrew came over and discussed their new curriculum plan and then gave them passes to the library. Peter and Leah sat in a conference room studying the map of New Jersey.

Peter thought out loud,"If we take the backroads, less people will see us and we'll be able to avoid the neverending rush hour traffic."

"How many miles can you drive before you get tired?"

"I don't know. Lets go to the video arcade and find out."

"We could leave now. We just have to get back to class by 3:50."

"That would only give us 2 hours."

"I've got it! Lets buy a game system and try it at home. Then, we'll take it with us so they don't find it."

"Sounds good." Peter turned to the New York map. "If we go thru New York, we could cross over in Canada almost before they discover we are gone. We can tell whichever mom that we are going to the lake to watch the sunrise and leaving at 4:30 in the morning."

"What do you mean?"

"We will tell, I mean, we'll stay over night at the same house if possible, and tell mother that we are going to watch the sunrise."

"Why stop there, why not just say we are going to compare the sunrise to the sunset?"

"And we'll really leave when they are asleep. We should probably stay at my house because they snore really loud. It's obvious when they are asleep. Plus, they are very sound sleepers. A fire alarm wouldn't wake them. That's why there is four fire alarms in my parent's room."

"Now, that's bad! I swear my mother wakes up to the sound of her own shadow!"

"Shadows don't make noise."

"Try telling her that!" Said Leah as she took the passports out of her bag. "So, I guess I'll become Rebekah Koch."

"Let me see that," Stephen asked while grabbing a passport out of Leah's hand. "These aren't American passports, these are Canadian!"

"Really?!?"

"Yes, see the maple leaf? It's the Canadian National symbol."

"I wondered why the driver's license looked so strange."

Peter pulled out his driver's license and examined it. "I wonder if this address is even a real address?"

"I guess we can always find out when we get there. The letter didn't say."

"I don't want to be poking around in any mafia house. No thank you! The mafia may be dead in New Jersey, but that doesn't mean they are dead in Canada!"

"We wouldn't be poking IN. We'd just drive by to make sure that a house is at that address."

"Is there anything we are forgetting? Erase that, we have to find out about the Canadian driving laws, especially the ones that deal with RV's!"

"We'll just park in 24 hour store parking lots and sleep."

"That'll work. Let's go."

"Where?"

"To the game store. I can fit the video system in my backpack."

Peter looked to see if the librarian was watching. A student walked up to the librarian's desk and asked a question. The librarian got up and directed the student to the book shelves. Peter quietly opened the door and they stepped out into the hallway. They tiptoed down the hallway towards the exit door. They heard a teacher thry the classroom door instructing her class sto line up. Peter and Leah tiptoed faster down the hallway. He peeked around the corner to make sure the coast was clear. The classroom door opened. Peter and Leah darted around the corner and sprinted towards the exit door. Leah opened the door and they darted outside. Peter closed the door as quietly as possible. They sprinted as fast as they could to the opening in the fence, not daring to look back. Within seconds, they had the video system in hand and was at the checkout counter.

"No school eh?" asked the cashier.

"We have to go back to school." Peter said truthfully.

"What he means is, we are homeschooled and will be doing more assignments when we get home." Leah lied.

This seemed to satisfy the clerk. He handed Peter the package. They took off at a sprint back to school. They tried the same door they had left earlier. It was locked.

"Now what?" Peter asked in horror.

"I guess we sneak in thru the front doors and try to get by the principal's office without being seen. What choice do we have?"

Just then, a younger student walked by, looked over at them, and let them in.

"Thanks!" Peter whispered.

"No problem. Just don't get caught, you hear?" The student whispered back.

"Whispered and clear." Leah responded.

Peter and Leah opened the library door and walked steadily towards the conference room and sat down. Peter folded up the maps and went to put them away. The librarian walked over to Peter. "Where were you two?"

"Bathroom, couldn't wait. Forgot to go earlier."

"For a full 7 minutes?"

"Believe me, you don't want to know the gorry details."

"Believe you me, I do. It should be quite interesting."

"What I mean is, I had to go the other kind. And I will NOT discuss it."

"Oh, sorry. Just see that next time you tell me before you two leave?"

"There won't be a next time. I hope! It kind of interferes with studying."

Peter took off to the travel section and grabbed two Canadian travel books then joined Leah.

Peter and Leah entered Leah's house. "Mother?"

"I'm in the kitchen dear!"

"Can I stay overnight at Peter's? We want to compare the sunrise with the sunset without disturbing anyone's sleep."

"We'll see."

"We will go to the lake and pack a lunch... I mean a breakfast. We'd pack a lunch too and supper. We'd have too or go home for lunch, but we'd rather not. We want to see how much science we can learn at the lake on Saturday."

"I'll discuss it with Peter's mother and with your dad first."

"We haven't told her yet. Peter was going to call her. All of this is dependant on both families agreeing and we weren't sure who to ask first."

"That's okay, dear. I'll call her and speak with her about it."

Mrs. Lehman talked to Peter's mother for awhile. "Peter, your mother want to talk to you."

"Hello?"

"Peter, where were you thinking Leah would sleep?"

"In the guest bedroom of course. Why?"

"Just checking." She said concerned. "Can you two get ready quietly?"

"We plan on getting everything ready the night before so that all we will have to do is grab it out of the fridgerator and leave."

"You can go as long as we don't wake up because of you two making too much noise."

"We will be very quiet. I assure you!" Could he ever assure them, but he wasn't going to tell them.

"Please put Mrs. Lehman back on the phone dear."

Peter handed Mrs. Lehman the phone and then prayed, "Please let us go for the whole day, please, oh please let us go."

Mrs. Lehman hung up the phone and turned towards Peter and Leah. "We have decided that you two can do this but only if the father's agree. So, you'll have to wait."

" Oh thank you very much mother. We'll wait patiently. We'll prepare just in case. We are going to go up stairs and do homework first."

"Peter, staying for supper?"

"I'll ask my mother." A few sconds later and Peter answered, "Yes, I can stay. Thanks!"

Peter and Leah ran upstairs, grinning from ear to ear.

Mrs. Lehman called after them, "Do grab a cooler!"

"We will!" They called back in unison.

Leah shut her bedroom door. Peter and Leah exclaimed in unison, while high fiving each other, "We are so out of here!"

"Peter, how much time will we have before they discover we aren't coming back?"

"That depends on what time my parents actually fall asleep, and if we can be gone all day. If they allow us to get back at 8:30 pm, we'll have almost 20 hours before we are discovered."

"That should be more than enough time to cross over into Canada."

"And hopefully enough time to find a place to park and sleep."

"Should I work on my driving skills?"

"Probably won't hurt, especially since you have a driver's license."

"We can tell your parent's that we will bike home really carefully so it might take us longer. And we will walk the bike across every intersection."

"At that rate, it will take us 5 hours to get home. Do you realize how many intersections their are?"

"Well, then skip that last part."

Friday after school Leah and Peter are biking towards Peter's house.

Leah exclaimed, "I can't believe all the homework! We must be sure that your parent's don't find out. Otherwise we'll spend friday doing homework!"

"That's for sure. We need to catch a bus over to AJ's and go grocery shopping."

"Why not take a taxi? It'll be faster by 45 minutes."

"So, what's a good drop off point?"

"Italiano Restaurante Extraordinaire. It's only two blocks away."

"Perfect! My parent's are eating out. Mom didn't feel like cooking. Woked up with a headache."

"She's not drinking during the week again, is she?"

"Yes. She's an alcoholic. It's getting pretty bad."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Tonight's the night. No more hearing her complaints about headaches, stomach aches and throwing that she gave herself. No more of her yelling at me because she is too drunk to no better. She says she never yells at me."

"That's what they all say! Most drunks haven't a clue how mean they are to their children. They think they are angel's and can handle their drink."

"Then they get behind the wheel and drive when they can't even see straight let alone walk straight."

"I am definately not drinking when I get older! I am not taking any chances on me acting like a fool!"

"I'm with you!"

Leah flagged down a taxi. Their bikes were stowed in the trunk, and they hopped in.

They paid the taxi driver and took their time getting their bikes together so that the lock would go around both bikes. The taxi driver took off for another fair. They got on their bikes and took off toward's AJ's. This time, they didn't forget a thing. Grocery shopping took two hours. They went to two different grocery stores to avoid attracting attention. They were careful to pick a cashier who probably wouldn't notice them. Peter parked the RV at the playground up the street from where he lived.

"Leah, you will sleep here. I suggest we go to bed early. I'll set my alarm for 10:30. I'll pack the three meals real quick. All I have to do is grab the bread, beanut butter and bottled water. I'll also grab us a pack of cheese slices and the bologna and throw it in the cooler." "Okay. Good Night!"

"Night! See you in a few my dear."

"Yes, my dear."